Low cost canoe for occasional use?

Hi,

My wife and I are looking to buy a low cost canoe for occasional use - maybe 5-6 times over the summer. Neither of us are exactly novices, but it’s been over 15 years since we have canoed and camped in the North Woods of Minnesota in an old aluminum canoe.

Now we live in Colorado, we want to go on the occasional day trip to a local reservoir or slow moving river. We are looking to pay up to around $700 - less is better up to a point. BTW, the used canoe market is almost non-existent in this area, and that’s we are looking at new canoes.

Going to the local stores and browsing the internet, we find Pelican, Mad River, Quest (from Dick’s Sports) and one Old Town within our price range. In this price range, all the boats are going to be over 80lbs - not good, but then you get what you pay for!

I’m looking for personal experiences, suggestions etc. Please remember that our use will be for a quiet afternoon paddle and not looking for the week long camping trip or white water.

Thanks for your help.

One place…

– Last Updated: Apr-01-07 3:01 PM EST –

Stock comes in and out plus he gives good descriptions. http://www.ozarkcanoe.com/BoatListPage.htm

I think Dick's has a Pelican "Ram-X" canoe on sale this week. Get a decent canoe and you will be happy.

http://www.paddling.net/Reviews/Canoes.html

Used Canoe

– Last Updated: Apr-01-07 3:26 PM EST –

Check the classifieds here and places like Craig's List. You can get a much better used canoe on your $700 max than a brand new box store special. Better to have a scuffed up boat that's fun to paddle than a brand new barge.

If you don't mind the weight, one can usually pick up a serviceable aluminum canoe for a couple hundred bucks. They're not great at any one thing, but are durable and will probably outlast you.

I picked up an older Royalex Mohawk 16 foot tandem canoe from the classifieds here for $400. It had nary a scratch and is much better than anything I could have found for $700 new.

Phreon

eBay
http://cgi.ebay.com/Canoe-Coleman-Ram-X-17-Red-Two-person-Great-Condition_W0QQitemZ120104110410QQcategoryZ23800QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem



Plenty of good boats wicked cheap (like this one), or better boats reasonably cheap.



Plus Pnet ads.



G’luck, mate.

Why not try…
canoecolorado.com. I’m not sure which town they’re located in, but I believe they have over 100 canoes in stock! By the way, is the drought over in CO, or does it depend on which part of the state you live in? Good luck.

Thanks
Wow! You guys are great! In answer to some of the questions … in no particular order …

  • We started looking for a canoe last fall hoping to pick up something cheap and used. Most of what we saw were beat up old boats that had been left out for years in the harsh Colorado sun … or people had unrealistic expectations on price.
  • I check Craig’s List and have even gone and looked at some … see comment above.
  • In Old Town, we are looking at the Guide 147 or 160. We are planning on renting a Discovery 158 from Jax just to try it out - yes this is above our specified price, but it is the cheapest rental boat round here. Who knows, we may like it!
  • In Mad River, looking at the Adventure 14 or 16.
  • Dick’s Sporting Goods has a special on a Pelican Colorado for only $279.98 - the reviews seem polarized - people love it or hate it!
  • One person commented that if we didn’t do enough canoeing, we could always sell it. And if we did like it, we could always upgrade next year. That’s exactly our thinking. If we use the canoe a lot, we will upgrade to something nicer. I may even consider building the Pygmy Taiga kit. But right now, we feel we need to get on the water asap.

    Again thanks for the comments and help. I knew I would get good advice from this group.

Consider the Old Town Flatwater series
It has very good initial stability. I have the 14’ model,

and it paddles very well with a couple paddlers in it, and maybe kids or dogs included.

Made out of fiberglass, it will show some minor scratches with use, but the fiberglass

design gives it some good performance. It is not a tripping canoe, and the

freeboard is not high to grab the wind, or to have the wind grab you and your canoe.

Good luck, and Happy Paddling!

Maybe not what you wanted to read…
but a little bit of truth…as in “reality”. Just as many people drown in flatwater than in whitewater.

Low cost canoe
You might want to look at an Old Town Camper. It’s weights in at #58 and I’ve seen them at Dicks for $750.

Sierra Trading post
Saw this on the STP site last night. http://www.sierratradingpost.com/p/,77478_Old-Town-Canoe-Kineo-Polyethylene-Canoe-169.html



$580 new, plus shipping - but perhaps you could pick it up to avoid that charge.



gnatcatcher

Good deal!
Thanks gnatcatcher - I’ll call the Cheyenne outlet and check it out

20% off STP
Use 53736 for 20% off that canoe…expires 4/4.

Why not rent?
I don’t know about CO, but here, the rental places are around $40 for a day trip. They provide the transportation, so there’s no car-topping,. You don’t have to worry about winter storage, and for only 5-6 times a year, that’s like, $2-300, with no hassle of trying to sell it. That’s the way I’d go if I only planned to get out that few times a year.

Why not rent?
I don’t know about CO, but here, the rental places are around $40 for a day trip. They provide the transportation, so there’s no car-topping,. You don’t have to worry about winter storage, and for only 5-6 times a year, that’s like, $2-300, with no hassle of trying to sell it. That’s the way I’d go if I only planned to get out that few times a year.



BTW, we got the MR Adventure 16 last year and love it. We only use it on slow-moving river, and the 80# weight is not that big a deal for us.